We’ve just finished the latest run of our twice yearly Learn Moodle MOOC and, as usual, Mary and I have been looking through the feedback in order to improve the course for its next run starting on 19 June 2017. Here’s a brief summary:
Some facts and figures:
- 4916 participants signed up for the course and 4060 logged in on or after the start of the course on 2 January 2017.
- 1549 participants obtained a participant badge for posting and replying in a forum - 38% of those who logged in to the course.
- 748 participants obtained a completer badge and certificate of completion - 18% of those who logged in to the course and 48% of those who obtained the participant badge.
- 70% participants told us they were completely new to Moodle or had only used it a little; 13% had only used it for file sharing and 17% considered themselves advanced users, there to help out. From the final feedback, 93% rated the course either ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ and 88% said the course was ‘just the right level’.
- 28% participants used the Learn Moodle mobile app to access the course.
What we did well:
New features exploration
Each time we run the MOOC, the site is using the latest version of Moodle, giving participants the opportunity to try out the latest features. In the case of Moodle 3.2, there were major changes with the new messaging and notifications interface and the Boost theme. Although the course is aimed at beginners, experienced Moodlers can also benefit from participating, and a number of users now return each time to stay up to date.
Mobile app
Feedback about the Moodle Mobile app was very positive. As with Moodle, each version of the app brings improved functionality. Participants this time were able easily to see their course grades and badges, set their notification preferences and move from the app to the website without needing to log in a second time.
Videos
Participants liked the short videos (updated for Moodle 3.2) and the fact that the videos and their transcripts were available for download. All 32 videos are now available on the Moodle YouTube channel for you to include in your own training courses. Please note that everyone is welcome to contribute translated subtitles for Moodle videos.
What we could do better:
Encouraging forum searching
Despite the use of pinned posts in the forums, many questions were asked multiple times. Fortunately there were a number of experienced Moodlers on hand to ensure most questions were answered. However we need to encourage participants to try searching to see if their question has already been answered.
Practice courses
A significant part of the MOOC is the opportunity for participants to try things out and experiment in their own practice course and then receive feedback about it from others. Some participants reported that they were uncertain about what exactly they should be doing in their practice course each week, so we’re going to come up with a practice course checklist.
Use fewer blocks
With increasing access via mobile app and the new Boost theme, we’re being encouraged to use fewer blocks in the course. The 'Request a practice course' button in an HTML block was easy to miss, so we’ll be adding it elsewhere, and we’ll be reviewing whether we can remove other blocks.
For more insights into what we’ve learned from the MOOC, please see the blog posts from Mary in Moodle.com posts tagged Learn Moodle.
What participants said:
“The course gifted me eye-opening insights into some of the many options to built great learning arrangements with Moodle. Clear structured always well oriented and friendly accompanied by teachers and learners from all over the world. It was a great learning journey that has just started... See you and thank you!”
“Moodle is so versatile, I love that I can make it what I want it to be. The more I learn the more impressed I am. I have been particularly impressed with the community knowledge in the forums and the feeling that we are all learning together. I never felt any question was treated as stupid and the answers given were always helpful.”
For more comments made by participants, please see the Learn Moodle: Participant feedback.